Poland threatens to sue Commission over recovery money block

by Aleksandra Krzysztoszek

Poland will file a complaint against the European Commission before the EU Court in Luxembourg if it continues to block funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility destined to Poland, announced Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz.

In an interview with the RMF FM radio broadcaster, Przydacz said Poland will implement the investments and reforms featured in the county’s recovery plan regardless of whether the EU Commission disbursed the first tranche from the recovery and resilience facility.

However, the government would then send the Commission the bills for those investments and should the EU executive still refuse to issue payments, the government will bring the case before the EU Court of Justice.

“Our lawyers are working on that. If they judge a complaint to the Court to be legitimate, we will file it,” the deputy minister announced.

Asked if Poland considers withdrawing from the RRF and giving up the money, he responded the government is now focused on getting the payments but all options remain on the table, including renouncement of the EU recovery funds.

However, Przydacz believes that the money will eventually be issued.

Should the Law and Justice (PiS) party win the next year’s parliamentary election and govern the third term in a row, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “will lose interest in meddling in Polish politics,” he said.

The European Commission approved the Polish recovery plan in May, which is a prerequisite for all EU countries to receive the RRF funds but continues to withhold launching the first tranche due to the concerns related to the judiciary independence in the country.

The Commission is “a guardian of the [EU] Treaties” and possesses its tools to guard them, von der Leyen said at US Princeton University last week. The problem is that the EU is convinced that there is no judiciary independence in Poland anymore, she added.

*first published in: Euractiv.com